Sound of the Month
The sound of the month is…
tomato plants!
Did you know that plants produce sounds?!
This is a recording of ultrasonic sounds made by stressed out tomato plants. The plants make more sounds when they are dehydrated. The sounds were moved down into the human range of hearing, and there is compression on the spaces between sounds to create a shorter file.
Source: Khait et al 2023
Previous Sounds of the Month
Sound of the Month
The sound of the month is…
a reef fish grunting!
The static sound is snapping shrimp, and the grunting sound is a fish! I recorded this fish off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. This recording and spectrogram are featured in my paper on nighttime fish sounds and in my song Night Fish. The grey image you see is the spectrogram of the sound – a visualization of the sound in which the x axis is time, the y axis is sound frequency (~pitch), and the darker the color, the more intense the sound is. Can you match low grunts of the fish with the dark splots on the spectrogram? You can learn more about interpreting these sounds in the free Ocean World of Sound 30 Day Challenge.
The sound of the month is…
7 month old human!
Flashback to a conversation I had with my daughter when she was 7 months old. Babies have amazing and broad abilities to explore pitch and other aspects of vocalizing, which they gradually “lose” as they increasingly focus on what is important in the language they are learning to speak.
The sound of the month was…
spiny lobster!
Spiny lobsters rub their antenna on their head sort of like playing a stringed instrument, creating a scratchy sound. In this underwater recording I collected near Isla Contoy, Mexico, you can hear the crackling sound of snapping shrimp and several clear spiny lobster scratches!
The sound of the month was…
the MesoAmerican Coral Reef during the full moon.
Feel free to listen to a little, or a lot, or put it on loop as a calming background for working!
Want to listen to more? Browse music related posts below
Heather on Dr. Raven Baxter’s Podcast “The Science of Life”
Word got to me that Dr. Raven Baxter needed an expert on dolphin sex to explain some things. So we ended up in a hilarious, horrifying, educational discussion. Listen in… if you think you can handle it. #FlipperIsALie #SpongeBobIsALie #BarnaclePenis #Music #MysteriesOfTheOcean
Sound and Plants
When we think about plants, we often think about smelling or eating them. But what about listening to plants? Following on my Expert Is In presentation at the U.S. Botanic Garden, on Saturday June 1st I will present an interactive online lecture exploring how plants make and respond to sounds, shape soundscapes, and inspire sound…
Sounds of the Eclipse
Did you watch the solar eclipse on Monday? How did the sounds change during the eclipse? How do animals respond to solar eclipses? I recorded in air and underwater during the April 8 eclipse in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. Over the next few weeks I’ll be listening and determining any insights into animal behavior changes, and…
Reckoning of the Abyss – World Premier
Reckoning of the Abyss is a work for solo viola da gamba and chamber orchestra exploring memories held in the ocean. Surface waters, that once swelled under ancient pirate ship battles, connect with deep waters. In the high pressure darkness near the sea floor, how does the ocean reshape and revisit past experiences, and what…
Cello Tribute to Flory Jagoda
It was an honor to perform a tribute to Flory Jagoda at DAR on Tuesday evening. I played some new arrangements for solo cello, and I think they have potential. It was very emotional for me – I miss her so much. When I check out the recording after I can see how hard I’m…
Happy World Listening Day
Today is World Listening Day. It’s an inspiring and challenging day for me. Several years ago, my colleague, collaborator, mentor, and friend Mark Ballora was suddenly gone on this day. His pioneering visionary work in music, data sonification, and sound continues to inspire. A few days ago, we lost a giant presence in marine conservation,…